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.IIIQuestions of practical morals raise more difficult problems thanquestions of mere opinion.The thugs honestly believe it their dutyto commit murders, but the government does not acquiesce.Theconscientious objectors honestly hold the opposite opinion, and againthe government does not acquiesce.Killing is a state prerogative; itis equally criminal to do it unbidden and not to do it when bidden.The same applies to theft, unless it is on a large scale or by one whois already rich.Thugs and thieves are men who use force in theirdealings with their neighbors, and we may lay it down broadly that theprivate use of force should be prohibited except in rare cases,however conscientious may be its motive.But this principle will notjustify compelling men to use force at the bidding of the state, whenthey do not believe it justified by the occasion.The punishment ofconscientious objectors seems clearly a violation of individualliberty within its legitimate sphere.It is generally assumed without question that the state has a right topunish certain kinds of sexual irregularity.No one doubts that theMormons sincerely believed polygamy to be a desirable practice, yetthe United States required them to abandon its legal recognition, andprobably any other Christian country would have done likewise.Nevertheless, I do not think this prohibition was wise.Polygamy islegally permitted in many parts of the world, but is not muchpractised except by chiefs and potentates.If, as Europeans generallybelieve, it is an undesirable custom, it is probable that the Mormonswould have soon abandoned it, except perhaps for a few men ofexceptional position.If, on the other hand, it had proved asuccessful experiment, the world would have acquired a piece ofknowledge which it is now unable to possess.I think in all suchcases the law should only intervene when there is some injury inflicted without the consent of the injured person.It is obvious that men and women would not tolerate having their wivesor husbands selected by the state, whatever eugenists might have tosay in favor of such a plan.In this it seems clear that ordinarypublic opinion is in the right, not because people choose wisely, butbecause any choice of their own is better than a forced marriage.What applies to marriage ought also to apply to the choice of a tradeor profession; although some men have no marked preferences, most mengreatly prefer some occupations to others, and are far more likely tobe useful citizens if they follow their preferences than if they arethwarted by a public authority.The case of the man who has an intense conviction that he ought to doa certain kind of work is peculiar, and perhaps not very common; butit is important because it includes some very important individuals.Joan of Arc and Florence Nightingale defied convention in obedience toa feeling of this sort; reformers and agitators in unpopular causes,such as Mazzini, have belonged to this class; so have many men ofscience.In cases of this kind the individual conviction deserves thegreatest respect, even if there seems no obvious justification for it.Obedience to the impulse is very unlikely to do much harm, and maywell do great good.The practical difficulty is to distinguish suchimpulses from desires which produce similar manifestations.Manyyoung people wish to be authors without having an impulse to write anyparticular book, or wish to be painters without having an impulse tocreate any particular picture.But a little experience will usuallyshow the difference between a genuine and a spurious impulse; andthere is less harm in indulging the spurious impulse for a time thanin thwarting the impulse which is genuine.Nevertheless, the plainman almost always has a tendency to thwart the genuine impulse,because it seems anarchic and unreasonable, and is seldom able to givea good account of itself in advance.What is markedly true of some notable personalities is true, in alesser degree, of almost every individual who has much vigor or forceof life; there is an impulse towards activity of some kind, as a rulenot very definite in youth, but growing gradually more sharplyoutlined under the influence of education and opportunity.The directimpulse toward a kind of activity for its own sake must bedistinguished from the desire for the expected effects of theactivity.A young man may desire the rewards of great achievementwithout having any spontaneous impulse toward the activities whichlead to achievement
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